A red card issued to Coach Luis Medina on Wednesday night likely will end Narbonne’s chance for an undefeated season.

Medina’s ejection came during the Gauchos’ 3-3 draw against visiting San Pedro in an exhilarating meeting between two teams that are traditionally among the contenders for the Marine League championship. But the final result will undergo an appeal, which the Pirates plan to file today with the L.A. City Section.

Medina was charged with a red card after screaming at the match’s two officials in the second half – a reaction to a hand ball call that gave the Pirates a penalty kick with 18 minutes remaining. Miguel Espinoza converted the PK opportunity to give San Pedro (4-5-1, 1-0-1), which was seeking to win for just the second time in the past month, a 3-1 edge over Narbonne (7-0-3, 1-0-1).

Rule 126-4 in the section rulebook stipulates that “sports with only one officially assigned coach, when the Head Coach of that team or the person acting as the Head Coach during the contest is removed by an official or the rules governing the contest, that contest/match shall be immediately forfeited.”

But the match continued because the head referee apparently was confused about whether Medina was Narbonne’s coach. Two goals in the final seven minutes from Alfonso Moreno and Jacob Speckmeyer erased the 3-1 deficit facing Narbonne.

Narbonne’s roster card submitted before the match had the name of Medina and also the name of a team assistant coach. Medina sent the same assistant to submit the roster card during the traditional coach’s meeting with the head referee beforehand.

That led to confusion about whether Medina was the head coach. He has been identified by the school as its head boys soccer coach for the past five seasons.

Medina believes the 3-3 result may be upheld on the basis that the forfeit rule wasn’t enforced during the match. San Pedro coach Paul Butterfield said he would appeal the result on the basis that his team was ahead, 3-1, when the red card was recorded in the referee’s book.

Medina confronted Butterfield angrily after the match about San Pedro’s decision not to end the match after the ejection yet proceed to send an appeal to the section.

“(Butterfield) didn’t argue with the referee about (the rule) during the match,” Medina said. “(San Pedro) kept playing, so now all the hard work that my players put forth to tie the game is meaningless?

“My players would have been on the bus if I was in (Butterfield’s) position. You can’t take it back later. If you don’t want to enforce the rule when it happens, then what’s the point? Let’s keep playing for what’s at stake.”

Kevin Juarez, a right back for the Pirates, sprinted to score on the first shot of the game to give San Pedro its early 1-0 lead. Ender Carrasco, also defender, scored on a free kick assist from Espinoza midway through the second half.

“Our guys played a great game, so it’s a shame it has be a win by forfeit,” Butterfield said.”